What's happening in learning and development within organizations?
Even before the current economic downturn, it was clear that learning and development faced major changes and re-thinking in profit and nonprofit settings. Too often old-fashioned training and development mascarade as learning and knowledge within the organization: CFOs and COOs in many companies began examining where learning was actually having impact on employees with knowledge improving performance, client relationships, new business and the bottom line. metaKnowledge approaches learning and knowledge so that competencies within the organization are being put to work powerfully. Learning is facilitated and knowledge enhanced in a continuing cycle of improvement and transformation.

How does metaKnowledge facilitate learning in the organization?
metaKnowledge works with business leaders, subject-matter-experts (SMEs), line managers and senior management to identify what learning challenges face the organization at all ranks and levels. The organization's goals, strategy and market drive the skills, expertise and competencies needed by employees. Working with experts and leaders, metaKnowledge identifies the expertise already available and how well it addresses employees' needs for knowledge on the job. We also conduct a gap analysis to pinpoint missing content. We recommend methods and tools to enhance learning and cultivate workforce talent. Whether classroom basics, task-specific mentoring, evalutions as learning assessments or just-in-time podcasts, knowledge and learning reach employees and cascade into performance improvements, especially at remote client sites. Knowledge, information, tactics and behaviors, which have proven successful in actual performance environments, are captured and finetuned in a learning, knowledge-based culture.

How does metaKnowledge go about this ?
metaKnowledge uses its propriatary tools for assessing knowledge and learning needs tied to business strategies and commercial success. We also use strategy maps which chart human capital to business goals and outcomes. We coordinate closely with business leaders and use feedback to ensure high-value content.

How does metaKnowledge approach knowledge management?
metaKnowledge works with organizations that want to harness the knowledge embedded in its people and practices and put it to work successfully. metaKnowledge applies the best practices of knowledge management to harmonize information technology with business goals and achieve results; we create human-centered information systems that serve commercial, business goals. As employees transfer knowledge to new contexts and business demands, metaKnowledge's approach captures the instructional concepts and innovation so that others can transfer and leverage new best practices in their work.

What does knowledge mean in a business context?
Knowledge resides in your business practices and in the heads of your employees. Successful businesses fashion the knowledge of employees into valuable products and services, and know how to tap its knowledge for innovation and value-migration. Successful businesses use their knowledge to enhance profits. Most companies only wish they knew what they know.

How does a business manage its knowledge for success?
Successful businesses realize they must explicitly manage their knowledge, just as they manage other assets. Knowledge has never fended for itself and especially not in today's economy. Employees leave your organization with valuable knowledge because of layoffs, disaffection, retirement, and new job opportunities at your competitors. New employees arrive with neither an understanding of your business nor a familiarity with your clients. Mergers and acquisitions very rarely introduce employees to each other so that they know where to tap into expertise and develop synergies.

Knowledge management creates systems so that employees can leverage each others' know-how and take well-informed action at all levels of the organization. It frequently uses information technology to distribute best practices and intellectual capital. It encourages employee retention, ensure smooth transitions of retiring baby boomers, keeps knowledge in the organization even though work-force changes, and bridges gaps created by the mergers and acquisitions.

How does an organization manage the IT costs associated with elearning and knowledge management systems?
metaKnowledge carefully prepares cost/benefit analyses and budgets to allow business leaders to make shrewd decisions about the costs of implementing elearning and knowledge management systems. We work closely with internal IT departments and external vendors to find and shape cost-efficient solutions. These recommendations are always scaled to the needs of the client. For example, at one client, a nightly download from the accounting mainframe and $3,000 in developer costs built a corporate yellowpages that allowed employees to find experts, expertise and client information. After four years of heavy use, the IT department replaced it with fancier bells and whistles costing $200K: it had served its purpose well.

Where does data fit into knowledge management systems?
When working with people, business processes and information technology, in each and every case, you are working with data, metadata and information. Well-managed data and metadata, and high-value information become the underpinnings of knowledge management and the content of information technology. Managing these underpinnings builds a value chain, turning data into strategic, business resources for competitive advantage and putting organizational knowledge to work.

@ 2009 metaKnowledge, LLC